LIMA —Long before Lima Senior’s boys basketball players were born, the Pittsburgh Pirates won the 1979 World Series using a theme of “We Are Family,” based on a song that was popular then.
This year’s Lima Senior team uses the same theme, only with fewer words. The Spartans wear warm-ups that say “FAMILY” across the back of them.
It’s a theme Lima Senior coach Quincey Simpson brought with him in his first year as the Spartans’ head coach last season. But it wasn’t until this year it went onto the warm-ups.
“Last year that was our chant in the locker room. After every practice, after every game, we’d say, ‘1-2-3, family,’ ” Simpson said. “Families have their ups and downs, families have their trials and tribulations, but you know at the same time families stick together. That’s who we are. That’s what we’re about.”
He pointed to senior Jaylin Thomas, who averages 8.2 points a game, as a prime example of a player putting the group above individual goals.
“When Jay Thomas was a sophomore, he was averaging 17 points a game. He’s had to take the biggest back seat of all and he’s accepted it well,” Simpson said.
Post player Ruben Flowers said, “I think a lot of that is how long we’ve been playing ball together. Everyone knows their role, what they can and can’t do.”
Probably one thing no one can do is to put any more hype into this game than it already has.
Last season, it was huge with the Spartans breaking a five-year losing streak to LCC with a 68-53 win and Lima Senior point guard Xavier Simpson playing against the team he had helped win the 2014 Division III state championship.
This year’s game, though, is probably even bigger than that one.
LCC was No. 1 in Division III in the most recent boys high school basketball rankings by The Associated Press and Lima Senior was No. 2 in Division I.
Lima Senior has most of its top players back from a regional runner-up team that won 22 games last season, and LCC has four returning starters from a state runner-up team that won 26 games.
Quincey Simpson, a long-time AAU coach, has coached most of Lima Senior’s players for almost as long as they can remember. He also has coached LCC standouts Dantez Walton, Tre Cobbs and Josh Dixon. The Thunderbirds’ Nick Taflinger and Jamison Bradley played on his summer teams when they were younger.
Lima Senior’s players and LCC’s players know each other well on and off the court.
“Tre, Dantez and Josh, we all grew up playing AAU basketball. We all hang out together. We hang out at each other’s houses, we know each other’s parents. We have that relationship like brothers. They support us, and we support them as much as we can,” Flowers said.
So, how high a priority is beating their brotherly opponents Tuesday night for the Spartans?
“I’m sure the kids are circling that game. I’d be a fool to say they’re not,” Quincey Simpson said. “We understand the magnitude. It’s going to be a great game for the city.”
Flowers said in the big picture, the LCC game is not at the top of the list for the Spartans.
“After every practice, we say, ‘TRAC (Three Rivers Athletic Conference), state champs,” he said.
Xavier Simpson said, “It’s going to get more hyped up because it’s a cross town rivalry. But at the end of the day, we have to just play. The atmosphere will control itself.”
One of the big elements in Lima Senior’s success this season has been its relentless defensive pressure.
The Spartans pressured Findlay into 33 turnovers. Ottawa-Glandorf and Hazelwood (Mo.) East had 24 turnovers in their games against Lima Senior, and Dayton Thurgood Marshall had 15 turnovers in the first half last week.
“Most teams don’t take defense as seriously as we do. Everything we do in practice has a defensive emphasis,” senior guard Jarius Ward said.
Marquevious Wilson has emerged as the No. 2 player behind Simpson for Lima Senior this season. The 6-foot, 2-inch senior averages 14.6 points a game, is shooting 56 percent overall and 50 percent from 3-point range.
Wilson did not play in a 52-44 Lima Senior win over Toledo St. John’s last Friday night. After that game, Quincey Simpson said Wilson “has to do some things” to return to the lineup on Tuesday.
“He’s in my dog house right now. He’s our guy and hopefully he can be with us Tuesday,” he said.
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